Hi.
I'm Heidi Rader here in the Alaska Garden.
I'm with UAF Cooperative Extension Service
and Tanana Chiefs Conference.
And I'll be talking all about growing vegetables, flowers,
and berries in your garden and farm.
My favorite type of pea is snap peas eaten fresh off the vine.
A perennial kid favorite, too.
I've never intentionally grown shelling peas.
I prefer growing things where I can
eat most of what I grow, like with kale as opposed
to Brussels sprouts.
Why give yourself the extra work of not only growing the pod,
but also shelling it?
Maybe I'm just lazy because I don't clean leaves
and stems from my berries either.
I guess if you have a dish you liked
that called for shelled peas, then
I would understand why you'd want to grow them.
Then there are snow peas where the entire pod is also eaten.
Their distinguishing feature is that they're flat, sometimes
very large pods.
So the basic categories of peas are snap, shelling, and snow.
But there are some gray areas.
It's important to plant peas early and know what type of pea
you're growing so that you harvest at the right time.
Sugar Ann, a snap pea is one of my favorite varieties of peas--
mostly because it matures in only 51 days,
so it's a really quick way to start eating peas.
Most snap pea varieties mature in about 51 to 60 days.
The shelling peas tend to take a little longer to mature--
55 to 65 days.
Which is unsurprising given that you're only
eating the pea inside the pod.
Aside from days to maturity, taste is also a consideration,
as is the harvest period.
One thing I don't like about Sugar Ann
is that it has a short harvest period.
If you can discipline yourself to plant peas successively,
you will thank yourself for extending your harvest later.
Alternatively plant several varieties
of peas that vary with their days to maturity.
Oregon Giant, a snow pea, is also one of my favorites.
Oregon Giant is, well, giant and fantastic.
Snow peas tend to mature in 60 days or more.
In Alaska, the most often recommended
varieties and most often trialed snap peas
are Sugar Ann, Sugar Snap, Super Sugar, Sugar Sprint, and Mega
Snap.
For shelling peas in descending order,
they are Lincoln, Mr. Big, Thomas Laxton, Freezonian,
Novella II, and Maestro, and Green Arrow.
Finally, for Snow peas they are Oregon Giant, Snow Green,
and Oregon Sugar Pod II.
If you're unable or don't want to trellis your peas,
like these, look for a dwarf or bush variety.
Some short varieties are developed
with the intent of being harvested and eaten well
before they produce peas, and the pea sprouts
are eaten as a garnish.
Now, how do you grow peas?
I like to soak my peas overnight before planting them.
And then coat them with an inoculant
to increase their nitrogen production.
I plant the peas about 2 to 3 inches apart in two rows
that are 12 inches apart.
Then I placed drip irrigation in the middle of the row
and trellis them.
I use rows that are 30 inches wide.
The most phenomenal peas that I've grown
were when I gardened in bottomless silt.
The snap peas towered over my head.
Another year, when my garden was too close to trees
with invading roots, they barely produced even a few pods.
So think deep soil and adequate moisture when growing peas.
Moles and moose love them as much as we do.
If you grow an open-pollinated or heirloom variety,
consider saving the seeds by letting the pods remain
on the vine about a month after you would normally
harvest them.
For more information on growing peas,
see the links at the bottom of this video.
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